Written By Crystal Han
For the love of dance … a family tradition
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Dance is a beautiful art form capable of captivating an audience and guiding them on a dazzling journey . While this is definitely a component of dance , for teachers like Traci Dalke of Studio Three , it extends far beyond the realm of entertainment . Dance is love , passion , and a teacher of life lessons .
For Traci , dancing has been a bit of a family tradition . Her grandmother , mother , and two aunts all loved dance . When Traci started taking lessons at her grandmother ’ s dance studio in South San Jose , it quickly grew to be her passion and she became the 3rd generation dancer in her family . Traci continued to dance well into her adult life and she taught for her aunts in South San Jose . In 1990 , she moved to Gilroy to raise her family . Traci and one of her aunts always talked about opening a studio together , but between having young children and moving to different locations , they could never seem to find the right time . After they ’ d done so much planning , Traci felt confident that she could handle a business on her own . In 2002 , when her youngest daughter was in kindergarten , she opened her first dance studio .
Everything went smoothly for Traci at first . She started small , with 30 students her first year . By the second year the number of students doubled and by the third year they had nearly tripled . Business was going great until the recession hit . At the same time everyone was struggling with the economy , developers decided they wanted to demolish the building in Traci ’ s parking lot and build a new development . They walled off the parking lot with a chain link fence and marked the area with demolition signs . When Traci ’ s customers saw the fence they immediately thought her business had shut down . They stopped coming to class and the following month they didn ’ t pay . In one fell swoop , Traci lost all of her hard work . It was tough , but she managed to hang in there until her lease was up .
Thankfully , Traci had the good fortune of meeting Kat Filice , a creative director for Articulate Solutions , and she hired Kat to make her website . Kat suggested that she look at the downtown area to open up a new studio . After careful consideration , Traci decided that downtown Gilroy was the best place for her to have a fresh start . She saw the area as a very special niche with great potential . “ It ’ s my town , it ’ s where I raise my family . It ’ s where everything happens for us ,” she explained .
At the time Traci first opened Studio Three , many of the businesses we know and enjoy today weren ’ t there . It was a bit of a struggle changing people ’ s perceptions of business in the downtown area , but gradually Traci helped turn the tide . As a member of Rotary Club , the Chamber of Commerce , and of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association , Traci was already well established within the community and she was constantly getting the word out about downtown . That , in addition to word of mouth from many pleased customers ,
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 gmhtoday . com
helped her business thrive . The downtown area also began to flourish . “ I feel like I kind of contributed to people being okay with being in the downtown area and having it be safe . If people can feel confident that they can bring their kids here and the environment around them is safe , it ’ s good to tell other people , ‘ Hey , maybe I do want to have a shop or a restaurant down there ,’” she said .
The lessons Traci learned from opening her business are the same ones she wants to impart on her students : that achieving goals takes hard work . “ You just have to jump with two feet and trust in yourself ,” she said . If her students walk away with a sense of self-worth , honesty , and creativity , then she knows she has accomplished what she set out to do . Growing up , dance was always Traci ’ s go-to place for peace and calm . This is the feeling that she hopes will stick with her students and that they will keep dancing as their outlet . Whether they choose to pursue dance as a career or they find a different path , she is confident that dance will always come back to their lives in some way .
Traci ’ s love of dance and of teaching it to others will continue to give her new lessons about life . “ I ’ m constantly learning , constantly changing ,” she said . No matter where she goes , dance will be a never ending source of inspiration for generations to come .
DANCE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY STUDIO THREE